Posted April 28, 2010 by Jason at 6:00 pm ·
Filed under Promising Artists
My girlfriend discovered Faded Paper Figures a couple weeks back on Pandora. They’re pretty good! The vocal tone and thoughtful lyrics immediately bring to mind Ben Gibbard (in a good way). Check them out:
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Posted April 25, 2010 by Jason at 2:22 pm ·
Filed under DIY, Film
I recently had the opportunity to interview indie director, writer, and actor, Phil Magcalas about his most recent film, Skin and Bone. You might be wondering based on the title if it’s is somehow related to Elijah Wyman’s song from Butterfly Needles with the same name. Indeed, it is! Most of the music in the film is by Elijah. It’s also a pretty awesome movie. Check out the trailer here:
What is Skin and Bone all about?
Skin and Bone is a film which takes place over one day in a cardiac catheterization unit - the type of place where people with heart attacks and congenital heart defects go to have their hearts patched up and their arteries opened. It centers around the variety of people (not just doctors and nurses, but the patients themselves, techs and family members) who come together, from completely different situations, for one collective purpose - to focus their attentions on the care of people who are ill.
What inspired you to tackle such a dark subject after the much lighter subject matter of “Quarter Life Crisis”?
I guess I didn’t really venture to make something that was “dark,” per se. I spent four years working in a cardiac catheterization unit, and I just found the situations which took place absolutely fascinating - so more than anything else, I was trying to really depict situations honestly. Things like House and ER are fine, but there is so much dramatically interesting when you take a look at what happens every day in real actual normal hospitals. The people who work in health care are just ordinary people, so there’s a lot behind the scenes which gets pushed aside, but it’s still there. So, this movie is really an homage to the drama inherent in the situations which happen in real life, and I’d say the subject matter is just us trying to present you with relatively true-to-life experiences. For me, this nature of healthcare is uniting, and I think it comes across as a commonality that the characters share as well.I think that also, no matter what you set out to make, the film you end up with relies a great deal on what your audience takes from it. I think we’ve managed to leave certain aspects of the film open for interpretation - and I like the idea that what people get out of it depends on how they approach it. “The Quarter-Life Crisis,” our first film, was a comedy with a lot more dramatic elements than we had expected. I feel like “Skin and Bone” is a drama, and ended up with a lot more comedic elements than I expected. We had one screening at the Rainier Independent Film Festival in Washington, where it played after a pretty bleak disturbing film - and following that, “Skin and Bone” might as well have been a Marx Brothers movie - the audience picked up on every comedic thing I put in it. So it’s really subjective, and I like that.
What was the most challenging part of filming the movie?
Making this movie presented a number of challenges. I’m notoriously bad at naming characters - if you know me, and a character shares a name with you, then that character probably was named directly after you. Skin and Bone was difficult in this respect, because there are so very many characters. If you look at our credit page or our imdb site, you’ll see that we have about 35 or so cast members listed. The vast majority of these characters have at least some lines. So, getting that many people together for so many scenes which had dozens of cast members, especially when you can’t pay anyone, is incredibly difficult. We only had about 14 shooting days total, but they were spread over the course of the better part of a year, just because scheduling was such a problem.
Luckily for us, we had an incredible cast, many of whom helped behind the camera as well, and all the creative people who collaborates on this project were just unbelievably gracious with their time and talent. People stuck with us, and trusted that we were trying to make something worthwhile. We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from people who have been able to identify with the ideas that this movie addresses, and that is due in a huge part to people like our cast, crew, and the awesome musicians, who supplied music that every reviewer has made note of, and who helped us achieve the appropriate atmosphere for “Skin and Bone.”
What are your next steps for getting the word out?
Well, on some good advice, we’re starting up an email list (drop us a line at macproductionsinc (at) gmail (dot) com if you’re interested!) and we’re hoping to get it out to one or two more festivals. The big thing we’re going for is good ole fashioned word of mouth, so if you get the chance to check our work out, please do! We have a trailer on our site at http://www.milkandcookieproductions.com/skinandbone.html and there are dvd’s available there. A good portion of every dvd sale goes to Partners In Health’s work in Haiti.
Side note: Check them out at http://www.standwithhaiti.org and if you really want to read one of the best books on humanity and medicine ever, check out “Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder.
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Posted April 23, 2010 by David Ells at 1:30 pm ·
Filed under General
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Featuring Frank and Sue Albani from the Soule Homestead
Middleboro Midday is an AM radio show in Middleboro, MA that covers events and people from the local area. Hosted by Ed Rand, the show has a charming local feel to it while also showcasing Ed’s sense of humor and interest in pop culture. Grinding Tapes was featured last week in a very entertaining episode.
Fergus and Geronimo is a great new act that has released a hand full of singles in the last year. They’re supposedly going to be in Boston on June 10th 2010, although the details are still to be announced.
Enjoy this tune and maybe you’ll be as anxious for their full length as I am.
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Posted April 22, 2010 by Jason at 8:00 am ·
Filed under General
We had a great time on our friend Ed Rand’s radio show last weekend. If you didn’t catch it while it was on the air, you can hear the whole show here!
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Posted April 8, 2010 by Jason at 2:26 pm ·
Filed under Upcoming Shows
Don’t forget that our two-night Grinding Tapes showcase at The Armory in Somerville is coming up on Friday, April 16th and Saturday, April 17th. Tickets are $9 for one night and we are offering a limited number of double-night passes for $14 each! This venue is really small, so we encourage you to buy tickets in advance (sold directly through GT, no special fees).
We will also be accepting submissions for the Grinding Tapes mix swap at the showcase, so make sure to bring 3 copies of your mix + $5/$7 for shipping and materials. Get in on the Facbook event, too!
Also, catch Grinding Tapes’ on the radio a week from Friday (4/16). Jason, Elijah, and Laco will be hanging out with Ed Rand between 12 noon to 1pm on 1530 AM Middleboro Mid-Day. Cool!
The Points North
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tiny mtns/Elijah Wyman
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Mr. Sister
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Dreamtigers
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Manners
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The Woodrow Wilsons
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Posted April 5, 2010 by Jason at 11:32 pm ·
Filed under Upcoming Shows
We know you’ve been looking for something to fill out your calendar on Thursday, April 8th. Well, we have just the thing for you. Our friends over at Ryan’s Smashing Life have set up a pretty hip show over at Great Scott. Check out this lineup:
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If you did notice this, you may have been wondering, “What are they going to do with those discs?” Well, the answer is: a lot of things. But one of those things, for you guys, our beloved fan base, is shipping them out to you in the mail via a mix swap.
What’s a mix swap? you ask?
A mix swap is a social music lovers very best friend. Some of you may remember it as a long standing tradition of the Social Indie Group on Facebook (run by our friends Sarah, Rena, and Dianica).
This is how it works- you send us 3 mix CDs (They can be three of the same mixes, three individual mixes or two of the same and… you get the idea) and $7. This is to cover shipping of your returned mixes and the cost of a GT promo compilation. If you want to save a couple dollars, you can send just $5 and we’ll instead include a stripped-down copy of promo CD without all the cool artwork. This summer, we will send you 3 hand-crafted mix CDs from 3 other participants, and 1 Grinding Tapes promotional comp!
This is a great way to hear new music, meet new people and support your favorite very independent Boston record label!
The more people the better, so join up soon and start making your mixes! The first day we will accept submissions will be night one of our upcoming two-night Cambridge Armory showcase (4/16). You can bring your mixes right down to the show! The final day for accepting mixes will be June 15th.
If you are participating by mail, please send your mixes and $5 - $7 to:
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StreightAngular have been relentlessly touring around New England for the last few years, but they finally just came out with their debut full-length this summer. The new album is called After and Before was was released on Polk Records.
StreightAngular bring to mind the silliness and pop-sensibility of the Pixies, the nosiness of Sonic Youth, and the brutal intensity of early punk. My very favorite song of their is called “Empathetic Environmentalist”, which was included on After and Before, but will also be featured on their upcoming live album, Station Identification. Check out this sneak preview of the live version, recorded on air at WUML.
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Posted March 3, 2010 by Matt at 2:00 pm ·
Filed under Promising Artists
I first heard about Janelle while working at Newbury Comics. Her debut EP was quite devisive throughout the staff. Then I saw her about a year or so ago opening for Jamie Lidell. I have to say, she was absolutely excellent.
She has been popping up all over the internet since in that cute pompador. Pitchfork gave her the solid Best New Music for her first album single “Tightrope”. But I want to point out the excellent “Come Alive (The War of Roses)” which I think sums up the live show and the attitude of this former Outkast backup singer a little better.
Expect big things from this girl.
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We know you’ve been looking for something to fill out your calendar on Thursday, April 8th. Well, we have just the thing for you. Our friends over at 
